The invention relates to a device comprising an electrically insulating carrier with at least one through-hole which extends from a first face to a second face of the carrier which is situated opposite said first face and which hole serves to receive an electrically conductive pin which has a mainly rectangular cross-section. The first end of said pin projects from the first face while its second end projects from the second face after insertion of the pin into the carrier. The hole comprises at least two sections which are consecutively disposed in its longitudinal direction, the first section opening into the first face of the carrier and having a cross-section whose dimensions are so large that, after insertion, the pin does not contact the wall of the first section in any location, the second section having an at least partly circular cross-section whose diameter is so much smaller than the diagonal of the cross-section of the pin that the pin can be pressed into the second section with some force, thus producing the friction required for retaining the pin between the corner portions of the pin and the parts of the wall of the second section which contact said corner portions.
The device may be, for example a connector where the carrier constitutes the connector housing and the pins constitute the contact members of the connector.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,737,998 discloses a device of this kind where the carrier is formed by a molded board. Therein the first section of the hole serves to guide the pin to the second section during its insertion.
In some cases it is desirable that the second ends of the pins, projecting from the second face of the carrier, are connected to other electrical conductors, for example, conductor tracks on a printed circuit board, by means of a soldered joint. For such a soldered joint use in made of a flux which tends to migrate, via the clearance between the wall of the hole and the surface of the pin, to the first face on the other side of the carrier. Flux residue may have an adverse effect on the poroperties of the pins other components present on the first face.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,204 discloses a printed circuit board with holes for receiving pins for cooperation with a connector for establishing connections between conductor tracks on the board and a further device which is not accommodated on the board. The second ends of the pins, projecting from the second face of the board, are connected to conductor tracks on the second face by way of a soldered joint. The latter U.S. Patent Specification proposes to counteract the flux migration as much as possible by minimising the clearance between the wall of the hole and the surface of the pin. However, it has been found that in some cases a very narrow duct is thus formed, so that the flux can very readily migrate from the second face to the first face due to capillary effects. On the other hand, it is not very well possible to impart a rectangular cross-section to the holes in which the pins fit exactly in order to make the clearances between the wall of the holes and the surface of the pins completely flux-tight; this is because such a step readily leads to cracking of the board material as stated in the cited Patent Specification.